A plurality of cords for tires, particularly, cords for forming carcasses of tires are extended parallel to each other and the parallel cords are covered with rubber to form a rubber-covered flat cord. Cord processing methods and cord processing apparatuses for forming such a rubber-covered flat cord are known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Polyester and nylon cords are used generally for forming carcasses of tires. Rayon cords excellent in heat resistance and fatigue resistance are used prevalently for forming carcasses of radial tires for passenger cars. Rayon cords, however, are highly hygroscopic and the strength thereof decreases when they absorb moisture. Therefore, rayon cords for forming carcasses need to be dried by a drying process before being covered with rubber by a coating process.
A cord drying apparatus of a cord covering apparatus for covering cords for forming carcasses with rubber has been used for drying cords. In this cord drying apparatus, a plurality of cords pulled out from reels held in a wheeled creel are passed through a guide plate to extend the cords parallel to each other. The parallel cords are wound round hot-water-heated, rotary drying drums disposed at plurality of drying stages to dry the cords.    JP 2001-336078 A (P. 1, FIG. 33)